Multi meters are used to measure a variety of electrical parameters such as AC voltage, AC current, DC voltage, DC current, and resistance. Clamp meters are a type of multi meters with a current sensing clamp.
Clamp meters are designed to measure current without breaking the current path and typically have two clamp jaws which open and close at a fixed position with respect to the body and display of the clamp meter. Current is measured by opening the jaws to close them around the conductor element carrying the current. The clamps are provided with electrical coils inside them. In the closed position of the clamp jaws, the current flowing in the conductor element (such as a bus bar or a cable), of an electrical circuit magnetically induces a current in the coils. This current is proportional to the current flowing through the conductor element. For measuring the electrical current, there does not need to be an electrical contact between the conductor element and the clamps.
The conventional clamp meters have a rectangular housing designed to be held in one hand. A pair of clamp jaws extends from one end of the housing. The jaws are situated in a fixed plane that is generally parallel to the plane of the front face of the housing. The meter's display is normally also disposed in the front face of the housing. Refer U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,975,104 and 6,456,060.
A drawback of the existing clamp meters is they are awkward to use under many situations where the conductor elements that need monitoring are tightly placed in congested physical configurations. Under these circumstances, when the clamp jaws are placed around a conductor, the display and the keys might be orientated in a position which makes reading the display and operation of keys very difficult if not impossible. This makes the measurement and online monitoring processes cumbersome. Conductors that are either situated overhead or disposed in tight physical spaces such as an electrical cabinet are examples of such situations.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved clamp meter where the clamp jaws can be easily adjusted so that the operation of the clamp meter and reading of the display unit becomes easy.